Will a Jat’s dream of becoming the Chief Minister of Rajasthan ever come true?

Rajasthan is the largest province of the country in terms of area. A population of about 8 crores resides here, out of which around 13-14 percent people belong to the Jat community. Jats have always dominated the politics of the state. The largest number of MLAs and MPs are also elected from Jats. But despite all this, till date no person from Jat community has been able to become the Chief Minister of Rajasthan from any party. Whenever assembly elections are held, there is definitely talk of making a person from Jat community the Chief Minister. But after the elections, a person from Jat community cannot become the Chief Minister.

Jat community in Rajasthan has been the biggest supporter vote bank of Congress since the time of independence. Even today the inclination of Jats remains towards Congress. But in the current assembly elections, there is no Jat leader from any political party who can participate in the race for Chief Minister.

Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal had contested the last assembly elections by forming his Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and was successful in winning three assembly seats. At that time Hanuman Beniwal claimed that he would bring the marginalized Jat politics in Rajasthan into the mainstream through his party. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Hanuman Beniwal became MP by contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Nagaur in alliance with BJP. This time Hanuman Beniwal has contested the assembly elections in alliance with Chandrashekhar’s Azad Samaj Party of Uttar Pradesh. But Beniwal’s party, which claimed to contest elections on 200 seats, has been able to field its candidates on only 78 seats. Hanuman Beniwal, who presented himself as a Jat icon, has given a walk over to many big leaders including Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje by not fielding candidates. Anyway, voters from other castes have not been able to connect with Hanuman Beniwal.

Congress government has been formed in Rajasthan since independence. Congress governments included Nathuram Mirdha, Chaudhary Kumbharam Arya, Parasram Maderna, Kamla Beniwal, Ramniwas Mirdha, Ramdev Singh Maharia, Daulat Ram Saran, Sumitra Singh, Ramnarayan Chaudhary, Shishram Ola, Chaudhary Narayan Singh, Hemaram Chaudhary, Mahadev Singh Khandela, Lalchand Kataria. Like influential Jat leaders were participating. But none of these leaders could become the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. In 1973, Ramnivas Mirdha lost the election for the post of Chief Minister to Hardev Joshi by just one vote. With this, a Jat was prevented from becoming the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

In the 1998 assembly elections, Congress had contested the elections with Parasram Maderna as its face and got an overwhelming majority. But Parasram Maderna was defeated in Delhi politics and Ashok Gehlot was made the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Even in the 2008 assembly elections, Union Minister Shishram Ola had become the chief ministerial candidate against Ashok Gehlot, but Ashok Gehlot was made the chief minister. In this way, Jat leaders got the opportunity to become Chief Minister in Congress thrice but they failed all the three times. If we look at the present time, in the politics of Rajasthan today, no Jat leader has such a big stature that he can claim the post of Chief Minister. State President Govind Singh Dotasara is a third-time MLA. But he was also made the Minister of State for Education in the cabinet.

However, BJP has also started gaining its hold on the Jats. This time in the assembly elections, BJP has fielded more than 30 Jat candidates. Before the assembly elections, Dr. Satish Poonia of Jat community was also made the state president of BJP. But the idea of ​​a Jat becoming the Chief Minister in BJP is unthinkable. Because even today the Jat community is basically associated with the Congress. Therefore, Jat community has a stronger claim in Congress than in BJP.

Balram Jakhar, Kunwar Natwar Singh had once emerged as strong Jat leaders in central politics. He had also promoted many young Jat leaders. But these people remained limited to the politics of the Centre. He never tried to become the Chief Minister in the state politics. In its assembly election manifesto, the Congress party is talking about conducting caste census if the government is formed. If caste census is conducted in the state, then like Bihar, in Rajasthan too, the largest population will be of Jats. Then the real strength of Jats will be realized in the politics of the state.

There have been 25 Chief Ministers in Rajasthan since April 7, 1949. In which Brahmin has become the Chief Minister eight times, Bania five times, Rajput five times, Muslim once, Khatik once, Kayastha once and Mali thrice. There is not a single person from Jat community named in this list. Jat community leader Kamla Beniwal was definitely made the Deputy Chief Minister once. Many Jat leaders including Sardar Harlal Singh, Nathuram Mirdha, Ramnarayan Chaudhary, Parasram Maderna, Chaudhary Narayan Singh, Dr. Chandrabhan, Govind Singh Dotasara have held the post of Rajasthan Congress President. But the post of Chief Minister is still far away from him.

The entire politics of Congress in Rajasthan revolves around Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. To increase his influence, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot gradually sidelined Jat leaders one by one so that Jats could not stake claim to his chair. In 1998, when Gehlot became the Chief Minister for the first time, senior Jat leaders like Parasram Maderna, Dr. Balram Jakhar, Kunwar Natwar Singh, Shishram Ola, Ramniwas Mirdha, Chaudhary Narayan Singh, Hemaram Chaudhary were active in politics. But Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot gradually sidelined everyone. Not only this, after becoming the Chief Minister in 1998, Ashok Gehlot had also sidelined leaders like Naval Pandit Naval Kishore Sharma, former Chief Minister Jagannath Pahadia, Shivcharan Mathur and Hiralal Devpura, who were senior leaders in the Congress.

Today, due to lack of strong leaders in Rajasthan politics, Jat voters are not tied to any one party. Jat leaders have started gaining importance in all political parties. Of the 24 BJP Lok Sabha MPs in the state, five belong to the Jat community. Out of which Kailash Chaudhary holds the post of Minister of State for Agriculture in the Central Government. At the same time, more than a dozen MLAs from Jat community are also in BJP. Despite having the largest population in Rajasthan, the Jat community has not been able to become the Chief Minister and the leaders of the Jat community themselves are responsible for this. In the politics of the state, whenever an opportunity came for a person from the Jat community to become the Chief Minister, the Jat leaders pulled his legs. Due to which a person from Jat community could not become the Chief Minister. Unless all the leaders of Jat community unite, their strength will remain insignificant in the politics of Rajasthan.

-Ramesh Saraf Dhamora

(The author is an independent journalist recognized by the Government of Rajasthan. His articles are published in many newspapers of the country.)